Images for perception modules of autonomous vehicles

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are devices, systems and methods for processing an image. In one aspect a method includes receiving an image from a sensor array including an x-y array of pixels, each pixel in the x-y array of pixels having a value selected from one of three primary colors, based on a corresponding x-y value in a mask pattern. The method may further include generating a preprocessed image by performing preprocessing on the image. The method may further include performing perception on the preprocessed image to determine one or more outlines of physical objects.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent document claims priority to and benefits of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/656,924, entitled “IMAGES FOR PERCEPTIONMODULES OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES,” filed on Apr. 12, 2018. The entirecontent of the above patent application is incorporated by reference aspart of the disclosure of this patent document.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document relates to reducing the data complexity for analysis andbandwidth required of autonomous vehicle images.

BACKGROUND

Autonomous vehicle navigation is a technology for sensing the positionand movement of a vehicle, and based on the sensing, autonomouslycontrolling the vehicle to navigate towards a destination. Autonomousvehicle navigation can have important applications in transportation ofpeople, goods and services. One of the components of autonomous driving,which ensures the safety of the vehicle and its passengers, as well aspeople and property in the vicinity of the vehicle, is analysis ofimages taken from vehicle cameras. The images may be used to determinefixed or moving obstacles in the path of autonomous vehicle.

SUMMARY

Disclosed are devices, systems and methods for processing images of anarea surrounding a vehicle. In some embodiments, light detection andranging (LiDAR) sensors may be used to acquire the images based onreflections captured from the surrounding area. In one aspect, a methodfor processing an image taken from an autonomous vehicle is disclosed.The method includes receiving a raw image from a camera, the imageincluding three values for each of three primary colors, and/orselecting one of the three values for each pixel in the image anddiscarding the other two values, wherein the selecting is performed in apattern. The method may further include performing preprocessing on thereduced image, and/or performing perception on the preprocessed image todetermine one or more outlines of physical objects in a vicinity of theautonomous vehicle.

The method may further include the following features in anycombination. The selecting may reduce a data size of the raw image by afactor of ⅔. The pattern may be a Bayer pattern. The Bayer pattern maybe a red-green-green-blue pattern assigned to a 2-pixel by 2-pixel arrayrepeated across the raw image. The pattern may include a greater numberof green pixel values than both red and blue. The pattern may beselected such that a value of every other pixel along a row in thereduced image corresponds to green value of the raw image. The patternmay be selected such that a value of every other pixel along a column inthe reduced image corresponds to green value of the raw image. Thegenerating the reduced image may be performed using one or morecolor-selective filters. Each x-y value in the pattern may be from oneof three possible values. The preprocessing may be performed on theimage from the sensor array without human perception image enhancement.The human perception image enhancement may include one or more ofde-mosaicing, white balancing, and noise reduction. The preprocessingmay not include scaling one or more pixels' R, G, or B value for whitebalancing. The preprocessing may not include reconstruction a full colorimage from incomplete color samples output from the sensor arrayoverlaid with a color filter array for de-mosaicing. The preprocessingmay not include noise reduction, wherein noise reduction includesreduction of salt and pepper noise, wherein a noisy pixel bears littlerelation to the color of surrounding pixels, or reduction of Gaussiannoise. The preprocessing may include image cropping. The preprocessingmay include image resizing. The preprocessing may include imagecompression. The sensor array may be a camera.

In another aspect, the above-described method is embodied in the form ofexecutable code stored in a computer-readable program medium.

In yet another aspect, a device that is configured or operable toperform the above-described method is disclosed. The device may includea processor that is programmed to implement this method.

The above and other aspects and features of the disclosed technology aredescribed in greater detail in the drawings, the description and theclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a flowchart for processing an image for use by anautonomous vehicle, in accordance with some example embodiments;

FIG. 2 depicts an example of reducing the data size a color image foruse by an autonomous vehicle, in accordance with some exampleembodiments;

FIG. 3A depicts examples of Bayer images at different zooms to show thepatterns;

FIG. 3B depicts an example of a Bayer pattern image in greyscale;

FIG. 4 depicts an example of a contrast image and a perception result,in accordance with some example embodiments; and

FIG. 5 depicts an example of an apparatus, in accordance with someexample embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Pictures taken by still or video cameras are typically intended forhuman viewing. The pictures are in full color with high resolution inthree primary color such as red (R), green (G) and blue (B). Imageprocessing including vision tasks such as object detection, semanticsegmentation, and others typically use processed, well rendered imagesthat are intended for human eyes. However, images for use by machines donot need to have the same characteristics as images intended for humanviewing. For example, de-mosaicing, white balancing, color reduction,and other image processing may not be necessary for machine vision usedfor autonomous vehicles. Since the foregoing image processing tasks donot add additional information, they may not be needed or be useful formachine images. Not performing some processing tasks such as whitebalancing, which can cause over exposure, also improves the images.Moreover, the amount of data required to represent an image for machineuse is less than the full color RGB representation of an image.

In some example embodiments, the RGB information for each pixel in animage may be reduced so that instead of each pixel having intensityvalues for each of R, G, and B, each pixel has only one intensitycorresponding to R, G or B. A predetermined pattern of R, G, and B maybe assigned to the array of pixels in an image. By reducing the numberof intensity values per pixel from three to one, the data required torepresent the image is reduced to ⅓ of the data needed for a full colorRGB image. In this way, the amount of data needed to represent an imageis reduced to ⅓ while maintaining color sensitivity needed for coloredobjects in the image. Reducing the amount of data needed to representthe image reduces the bandwidth needed to transfer the image in a fixedamount of time or allows the image to be transferred or processed inless time. Both of these improve machine vision performance andresponsiveness. As an illustrative example, a camera image with a sizeof 200 pixels by 300 pixels has 60,000 pixels. If each pixel isrepresented by an 8-bit red (R) value, an 8-bit green (G) value, and an8-bit blue (B) value, the total number of bits required to represent thecolor image is 300 (pixels)×200 (pixels)×8 (bits)×3 (colors)=1,440,000bits. By applying the pattern to select one of R, G, or B, for eachpixel in a pattern, the number of bits needed to represent the image isreduced to 480,000. The foregoing is an example for illustrativepurposes. Other numbers of pixels per image or bits of resolution percolor can also be used.

FIG. 1 depicts a flowchart 100 for processing an image for use by anautonomous vehicle, in accordance with some example embodiments. At 110,an image is received. At 120, the data required to represent the rawimage is reduced. At 130, the reduced image is preprocessed. At 140,perception is performed on the preprocessed image. At 150, theperception result is provided as an output.

At 110, an image is received form a camera or LiDAR or other imagegenerating device. For example, an image from a solid-state camera suchas a charge coupled device (CCD) camera is received. The camera may haveseparate outputs for R, G, and B or may have a composite output. As anexample, R, G, and B may each be represented by 8-bit luminance valuesor may be represented by analog voltages. In another example, the imagemay be from a multi-spectral Light Detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor.Each “color” may be represented by an 8-bit or another bit resolutionvalue.

At 120, the data required to represent the raw image is reduced. Forexample, the RGB information for each pixel in an image may be reducedso that instead of each pixel having intensity values for each of R, G,and B, each pixel has only one intensity corresponding to R, G or B. Byreducing the number of intensity values from three to one, the datarequired to represent the image is reduced to ⅓ of the data needed for afull color RGB image. In this way, the amount of data needed torepresent an image is reduced to ⅓ while maintaining color sensitivityneeded for colored objects in the image. Pixels may be selected to be R,G, or B based on a pattern such as a Bayer pattern which is furtherdetailed with respect to FIG. 3.

At 130, the reduced image is preprocessed. The preprocessing isminimized to increase processing speed and reduce computationalcomplexity. For example, demosaicing and white balancing may beeliminated and basic pre-processing such as image cropping and resizingmay be maintained.

At 140, perception is performed on the preprocessed image. Perceptionresults include object bounding boxes. See, for example, FIG. 4 at 420.The performed perception is modified since the input images are notthree channels for RGB, but are instead reduced to one channel of R, G,or B for each pixel. The perception is computerized and may occur atreal time speeds in a moving vehicle without human assistance orfeedback.

At 150, the perception result is provided as an output. The output maybe used by further image processing tasks related to identifying objectsand controlling the vehicle to avoid the objects.

Advantages of the disclosed techniques include the generation of aone-channel image compared to the three-channels (RGB) for usual images.This reduces the space required for storage by ⅔, and reduces the datarate or time for transmission, or a combination of data rate and timefor transmission. The second advantage is reduced computationalrequirements because the image has less data to process and manypreprocessing steps are eliminated. Another advantage is that thereduced image causes performance improvement because the raw data eventhough reduced has more information due to the reduced preprocessing(e.g., removed white balancing which may cause over-exposure).

FIG. 2 at 210 depicts an example of a pattern of colors assigned topixels. Full color images contain three channels—red (R), green (G), andblue (B). FIG. 2 includes labels, “R” for red, “B” for blue, and “G” forgreen to clearly indicate the colors of the pixels and the colors oflight indicated at 220. For every pixel in a typical image, there arethree corresponding values. Together, they mix into a real ‘color point’we see in the digital image. As described above, instead of three valuesper pixel, the number of values may be reduced to one by choosing R, G,or B for each pixel. The choice of which pixels are assigned to each maybe selected in a pattern. For example, a Bayer pattern image has onlyone channel but encodes a subset of the information of the three RGBchannels in the one channel. For example, a repeating pattern of 2*2pixel grids may be selected. In some example embodiments, a ‘RGGB’ Bayerpattern may be used. RGGB refers to red for pixel 211, green for pixel212, green for pixel 213, and blue for pixel 214 in a repeating 4-pixelsquare pattern as shown at 210. Different patterns may be selecteddepending on the hardware. In this way, the three values for pixel 211corresponding to an R value, a G value, and a B value, the R value isselected and the G and B values are discarded. This same eliminationprocess is applied to each pixel. The pattern may include a greaternumber of green pixel values than both red and blue. The pattern may beselected such that a value of every other pixel along a row in thereduced image corresponds to a green value of the raw image, or suchthat a value of every other pixel along a column in the reduced imagecorresponds to a green value of the raw image. The pattern may include agreater number of green pixel values than both red and blue. In asimilar way as described above with respect to more frequent greenpixels, red or blue pixels may be more frequent rather than green.

FIG. 2 at 220 shows the selection process from three values to one foran example pixel and the corresponding mosaic of each color selection onan image. The generating the reduced image may be performed usingmultiple color-selective filters. This may be referred to as a colorfilter array (CFA).

A Bayer pattern is an example of a color filter array (CFA). In someexample embodiments, a color filter array different from a Bayer patterncan be used. Generally, the red, green, and blue colors used in a Bayerpattern can be transformed into another group of three colors wheredifferent combinations of the other group of three colors can becombined to cause the appearance of all other visible colors just asred, green, and blue can. Furthermore, a color filter array in someexample embodiments may include four instead of three basic colors. Forexample, a patterned CYGM filter (cyan, yellow, green, magenta) can beused, or a patterned RGBE filter (red, green, blue, emerald) can be usedas a CFA. Moreover, in some example embodiments, a CFA may add pixelsthat are not color filtered including a CMYW (cyan, magenta, yellow, andwhite) CFA.

FIG. 3 at 305 and 310 depict example images with an RGGB Bayer patternapplied to an original full color image. The pattern in the image at 310is zoomed in to better show the pattern. FIG. 3 at 310 depicts adifferent image from the image at 305, 320 or in FIG. 4. The image at305 with RGGB Bayer pattern is the same image as FIG. 3A with the R, G,or B value maintained as one color per pixel. FIG. 3A at 320 depicts aBayer pattern image with the value for each R, G, and B in the patternmapped to a black and white gray scale.

FIG. 4 at 410 depicts a rendering result after image processing isperformed on the image shown at 320. FIG. 4 at 420 depicts a perceptionresult showing object detection on the Bayer pattern image 305.

Some example implementations may be described as following examples.

1. A method for processing an image, comprising: receiving an imageincluding an x-y array of pixels from a sensor array, each pixel in thex-y array of pixels having a value selected from one of three primarycolors, based on a corresponding x-y value in a mask pattern; generatinga preprocessed image by performing preprocessing on the image; andperforming computerized perception on the preprocessed image todetermine one or more outlines of physical objects.

2. The method of example 1, wherein the mask pattern is a Bayer pattern.

3. The method of example 2, wherein the Bayer pattern is ared-green-green-blue pattern assigned to a 2-pixel by 2-pixel arrayrepeated across the raw image.

4. The method of example 1, wherein the pattern includes a greaternumber of green pixel values than both red and blue.

5. The method of example 1, wherein the pattern is selected such that avalue of every other pixel along a row in the reduced image correspondsto green value of the raw image.

6. The method of example 1, wherein the pattern is selected such that avalue of every other pixel along a column in the reduced imagecorresponds to green value of the raw image.

6. The method of example 1, wherein, each x-y value in the pattern isfrom one of three possible values.

7. The method of example 1, wherein the image is generated using one ormore color-selective filters.

8. The method of example 1, wherein the preprocessing is performed onthe image from the sensor array without human perception imageenhancement.

9. The method of example 8, wherein the human perception imageenhancement includes one or more of de-mosaicing, white balancing, andnoise reduction.

10. The method of example 1, wherein the preprocessing does not includescaling one or more pixels' R, G, or B value for white balancing.

11. The method of example 1, wherein the preprocessing does not includereconstruction a full color image from incomplete color samples outputfrom the sensor array overlaid with a color filter array forde-mosaicing.

12. The method of example 1, wherein the preprocessing does not includenoise reduction, wherein noise reduction includes reduction of salt andpepper noise, wherein a noisy pixel bears little relation to the colorof surrounding pixels, or reduction of Gaussian noise.

13. The method of example 1, wherein the preprocessing includes imagecropping.

14. The method of example 1, wherein the preprocessing includes imageresizing.

15. The method of example 1, wherein the preprocessing includes imagecompression.

16. The method of example 1, wherein the sensor array is a camera.

17. A computer apparatus comprising a processor, a memory and acommunication interface, wherein the processor is programmed toimplement a method recited in one or more of examples 1 to 16.

18. A computer readable program medium having code stored thereon, thecode, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement amethod recited in one or more of examples 1 to 16.

FIG. 5 depicts an example of an apparatus 500 that can be used toimplement some of the techniques described in the present document. Forexample, the hardware platform 500 may implement the process 100 or mayimplement the various modules described herein. The hardware platform500 may include a processor 502 that can execute code to implement amethod. The hardware platform 500 may include a memory 504 that may beused to store processor-executable code and/or store data. The hardwareplatform 500 may further include a communication interface 506. Forexample, the communication interface 506 may implement one or more ofthe communication protocols (LTE, Wi-Fi, and so on) described herein.

Implementations of the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed in this patent document can be implemented in various systems,digital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, orhardware, including the structures disclosed in this specification andtheir structural equivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them.Implementations of the subject matter described in this specificationcan be implemented as one or more computer program products, e.g., oneor more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a tangibleand non-transitory computer readable medium for execution by, or tocontrol the operation of, data processing apparatus. The computerreadable medium can be a machine-readable storage device, amachine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition ofmatter effecting a machine-readable propagated signal, or a combinationof one or more of them. The term “data processing unit” or “dataprocessing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus, devices, and machinesfor processing data, including by way of example a programmableprocessor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers. Theapparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates anexecution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., codethat constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, or a combination of one or moreof them.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can bedeployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computingenvironment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to afile in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a filethat holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in amarkup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program inquestion, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store oneor more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer programcan be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computersthat are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random-access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computerneed not have such devices. Computer readable media suitable for storingcomputer program instructions and data include all forms of nonvolatilememory, media and memory devices, including by way of examplesemiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memorydevices. The processor and the memory can be supplemented by, orincorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

While this patent document contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of any invention or of what may beclaimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific toparticular embodiments of particular inventions. Certain features thatare described in this patent document in the context of separateembodiments can also be implemented in combination in a singleembodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in thecontext of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multipleembodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover,although features may be described above as acting in certaincombinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more featuresfrom a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from thecombination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. Moreover, the separation of various system components in theembodiments described in this patent document should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments.

Only a few implementations and examples are described and otherimplementations, enhancements and variations can be made based on whatis described and illustrated in this patent document.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing an image, comprising:receiving an image including an x-y array of pixels from a sensor array,each pixel in the x-y array of pixels having a value selected from oneof three primary colors, based on a corresponding x-y value in a maskpattern; generating a preprocessed image by performing preprocessing onthe image, wherein the preprocessing excludes scaling one or morepixels' R, G, or B value for white balancing; and performingcomputerized perception on the preprocessed image to determine one ormore outlines of physical objects.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein themask pattern is a Bayer pattern.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein theBayer pattern is a red-green-green-blue pattern assigned to a 2-pixel by2-pixel array repeated across the raw image.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the pattern includes a greater number of green pixel values thanboth red and blue.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern isselected such that a value of every other pixel along a row in thereduced image corresponds to green value of the raw image.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the pattern is selected such that a value of everyother pixel along a column in the reduced image corresponds to greenvalue of the raw image.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein, each x-yvalue in the pattern is from one of three possible values.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein the image is generated using one or morecolor-selective filters.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thepreprocessing is performed on the image from the sensor array withouthuman perception image enhancement.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe human perception image enhancement includes one or more ofde-mosaicing, white balancing, and noise reduction.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the preprocessing excludes reconstruction of a fullcolor image from incomplete color samples output from the sensor arrayoverlaid with a color filter array for de-mosaicing.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the preprocessing excludes noise reduction, whereinnoise reduction includes reduction of salt and pepper noise, wherein anoisy pixel bears little relation to the color of surrounding pixels, orreduction of Gaussian noise.
 13. A computer apparatus comprising: aprocessor, wherein the processor is configured to at least: receive animage including an x-y array of pixels from a sensor array, each pixelin the x-y array of pixels having a value selected from one of threeprimary colors, based on a corresponding x-y value in a mask pattern;generate a preprocessed image by performing preprocessing on the image,wherein the preprocessing excludes scaling one or more pixels' R, G, orB value for white balancing; and perform perception of the preprocessedimage to determine one or more outlines of physical objects.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 13, wherein the mask pattern is a Bayer pattern. 15.The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the Bayer pattern is ared-green-green-blue pattern assigned to a 2-pixel by 2-pixel arrayrepeated across the raw image.
 16. The apparatus of claim 13, whereinthe pattern includes a greater number of green pixel values than bothred and blue.
 17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processorselects the pattern such that a value of every other pixel along a rowin the reduced image corresponds to green value of the raw image.
 18. Acomputer readable program medium having code stored thereon, the code,when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement amethod comprising: receiving an image including an x-y array of pixelsfrom a sensor array, each pixel in the x-y array of pixels having avalue selected from one of three primary colors, based on acorresponding x-y value in a mask pattern; generating a preprocessedimage by performing preprocessing on the image, wherein thepreprocessing excludes scaling one or more pixels' R, G, or B value forwhite balancing; and performing computerized perception on thepreprocessed image to determine one or more outlines of physicalobjects.
 19. The computer readable program medium of claim 18, whereinthe preprocessing is performed on the image from the sensor arraywithout human perception image enhancement.